Chapter D: U 2 9 (2)
Six letters spell the happy state
Of two in love made one.
The same six letters tell the fate
Of marriage ties undone.
is solved by _United_, _untied_.
66
The riddle--
My first’s a bond, my second’s weigh;
These own the rest of all my lay;
Busy my third; fourth like the pole,
Whose opposite my fifth makes goal.
is solved by _Shackle_, _Tons_, _Ant_, _Arctic Expedition_.
[Lieutenant Ernest H. Shackleton, R.N., leader of his South Polar Expedition.]
67
For two months at the _nets_ we played,
Ere we were _sent_ to Lord’s;
Alas! the score our champion made
Was what a _nest_ affords.
The crowd in _tens_ of thousands came,
But took scant notice of the game.
The words in italics have the same letters.
68
When Edwin and Angelina received these mutual Marconigrams--
“No fickle girl is bonnie to my mind.”
“In love inconstant I no pleasure find,”
he was at Lisbon and she was at Constantinople, as is indicated by the fact that the names of these places are “buried” in the messages.
69
The Mental Arithmetic--
Set down three figures in a line,
Then multiply by four;
This, if you use the proper sign,
Makes five, and nothing more.
is solved by 1.25. In 1¹⁄₄ the figures are not _in a line_.
70
The doublet by missing words, in which a grilse is turned into a salmon, is solved thus--
To silver Tweed, or broader Spey,
The _grilse_ of _silver_, _sailer_ gay,
Guides on; the _sailor morals_ draws
When _salmon_ follows Nature’s laws.
One letter is changed in each link.
71
The enigma--
I never move, and yet I run
From place to place all day;
Some loving swain, hot foot for fun,
Sees Dora in my way--
is solved by _Road_, which spells also _Dora_.
72
The Letters--
~HAATTCEUMSSSS~
form the name of the State _Massachusetts_.
73
The enigma--
Seven words in one of letters five we fix,
Six English, and one Latin;
No need to twist them, or afresh to mix,
If puzzles you are pat in.
is solved by _There_: the words are--_there_, _here_, _her_, _the_, _ere_, _he_, _re_.
74
The full solution of the answer by anagram to the question, “Why is every angler ipso facto an Ananias?” is--
A liar, he spins gay fancies to a woven yarn.
Question and answer are spelt with _the same letters_.
75
The quaint riddle--
Peter White
Will never go right;
Shall I tell you the reason why?
Wherever he goes,
He follows his nose,
And that stands all awry!
If this appendage had slanted more.
Why would it serve a hole to bore?
is solved thus--It would be _Askewer_ (a skewer!)
76
“S” is the missing letter which occurs 55 times, and these are the four lines:--
This season’s sunshine smiles, such storms as pass
Assist us to assess success or loss.
Spring’s sweetness still possesses mossy grass,
As summer’s tresses mass soft shades across.
77
The enigma--
Protected, open, plain,
Without my tail I’m flat;
I’m round, curtailed again;
Again, you have me pat!
is solved by _Patent_, _paten_, _pate_, _pat_.
78
The logogriph--
When all are gay this holds the sway,
But take a letter out,
That change of fare is ruling there,
You see, without a doubt.
Behead me twice; it is not nice
To have this in your skin;
Lop head and tail, and find a nail
Or tack to drive it in.
Behead this right, and in your sight
A little word you find;
But you will never make it out,
Though it is in your mind.
is solved by _feasting_, _fasting_, _sting_, _tin_, _in_.
79
He _prides_ himself much on his skill,
In many a burglary tried;
But when he _prised_ open the till
There was only a _spider_ inside.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
80
The enigma--
Three-fourths of me an act display,
Three-fourths a bed for man;
Three-fourths have legs that cannot stray,
Three-fourths have legs that can.
I have a back without a spine,
An arm without a bone is mine.
is solved by _Coat_.
81
The charade--
My first is the French for my second,
My whole a narcotic is reckoned
is solved by _Lethe_.
82
The two palindrome words which can be formed from the letters of the sentence “Arrive to vote at it,” are _Rotator_ and _Evitative_.
83
The enigma--
Sweet till I lose my head,
Sweet-hearted then I show;
Decapitate again, I spread,
And cannot be below.
Served so once more, I am not dead,
But with fresh beauty glow.
is solved by _Clover_, _lover_, _over_, _ver_ (Latin for Spring).
84
When Tommy undertook to put a shilling in his money-box if his father would give him as much as he had in his purse, and after repeating the process for three more days found himself penniless, he had elevenpence farthing in his purse at first.
85
Two articles of English make,
And three from foreign source.
All these together you must take
Where dramas run their course.
is solved by _Theatres_ (_tres_, Latin for _three_).
86
When young Hopeful said, “If it were possible I should choose a life double as long,” and old Sobersides answered, “Yes, and you might turn it to better account if it was also begun old,” and the fact that their actual words “double as long,” and “also begun old,” were spelt with _exactly the same letters_, gave emphasis to the reply.
87
The charade--
Lop head and tail, and you will find
I have both tail and head.
Or if for spirits you’ve a mind
Set my tail first instead.
Life, as “a vapour full of woes,”
With many a darker page,
My whole in picture will disclose,
For “all the world’s a stage!”
is solved by _Drama_, _ram_, _a dram_.
88
A glowing _transept_ window, graced
With _patterns_ that true art has traced.
The words in italics have the same letters.
89
The proof by anagram that the words of commendation “blessed in pain,” are properly applied to anæsthetics, is that exactly the same letters spell _indispensable_.
90
The quotation buried in the sentence--
“What sin was it, sonny?” said an American negress to her lover, when
she sat on his best hat, which was flattened. Wearily he heard her
musical laugh, and arose to go. His hobby was botany, but not hers,
for she was then a merry girl. “Bother the flowers! I would prefer
this mellow pineapple, Leonidas,” she said; “I guess we Ethiopians
just love fruit!”
is “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
91
They _grab_ the dress with grip so keen
That half the _garb_ gives way:
And home return with purses lean
To _brag_ of “bargain-day”!
The words in italics are spelt with the same four letters.
92
Three _ladies_ went sailing out into the West,
Out into the West as the sun sank low;
Each thought as she _sailed_ of the lad she loved best
For they all had _ideals_, and each had a beau.
· · · · · · ·
But seas will rise, and spirits will sink,
And they all were too ill of _ideals_ to think,
So these _ladies sailed_ back moaning!
The words in italics have the same six letters.
93
The charade--
Lurking in riddles oft my first is found;
My second should in ample stores abound,
Or help to make the sweetest songster heard.
Peculiar, and quite proper, is my third.
My whole has found with England’s monarch grace,
The verdant home of many a goodly race,
is solved by _Punchestown_.
94
The enigma--
Accent my head,
An opening I appear;
In other fashion said
I charm all far and near--
is solved by _Entrance_.
95
The two sentences--
A lamp shines out for thee,
Win me best by tears,
are anagrams of _The Houses of Parliament_ and _Westminster Abbey_.
96
When on the Brighton beach an excited collie in pursuit of stones thrown into the sea, suggested the riddle, “What is the difference between that dog and a hungry man?” The appropriate answer was, “The one stops and shakes himself; the other chops and steaks himself!”
97
The hidden animal in--
A part of me in rain,
A part in hail must be,
A part belongs to pain,
A part in bones we see,
A part in gleaming gold,
A part in common copper.
A part in peace behold,
A part in any topper,
Two parts are heard in sound,
And in our finals found.
is _Rhinoceros_.
98
The smart enigma--
Men commonly say I am clever,
Book-learning I never could boast;
Yet I turn the leaves inside the cover,
And when I am found I am lost.
is solved by _A Fox_.
99
_A sot_ is like a _toast_, or what is most
Comparative, a _toast_ is like _a sot_;
For when their substances in liquor sink
Both properly are said to be in drink.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters, the _t_ being repeated in _toast_.
100
The pied proverb is “Fine words butter no parsnips.”
101
The puzzle verse--
A wordy warfare waged with wit,
In youth its joys none need descry;
But where our elders take to it
Its name points loss of dignity,
is solved by _Badinage_ (bad in age).
102
The hero’s name, hidden in--
My first’s in garb, but not in dress;
My next’s in praise, but not in bliss;
My third’s in man, but not in miss;
My fourth’s in we.
My fifth’s in boar, but not in hog;
My sixth’s in cat, but not in dog;
My next’s in calm, but not in fog;
My eighth’s in we.
My ninth’s in rope, but not in twine;
My tenth’s in light, but not in shine;
My next’s in four, but not in nine;
My twelfth’s in we.
is _General Wolfe_.
103
Here is the sentence given with its appropriate and perfect anagram--
A defeat whose test is very sure.
_Sweet are the uses of adversity._
104
The phonetic missing words are given in italics:--
’Tis _plain_ that no one takes a _plane_
To _pare_ a _pair_ of _pears_;
A _rake_ may often take a _rake_
To _tear_ away the _tares_.
105
The queer obstacle--
I’m in everyone’s way,
Yet no one I stop.
My four horns each day
Horizontally play,
And my head is nailed on at the top.
is _A turnstile_.
106
The old enigma--
Take five from five, and then
Put fifty in the middle;
Twice ten times five times ten
Will finish off my riddle,
And bring it to your ken
As fit as any fiddle!
is solved thus--
When Jacky Barrett, learned Don,
Composed his famous riddle,
His thoughts, perhaps, were resting on
The strings of his old FIDDLE.
107
The phonetic gaps are filled thus--
No _quail_ will _quail_ before the wind,
A _bough_ will _bow_ before it;
We cannot _rein_ the _rain_, or find
That earthly powers _reign_ o’er it.
108
We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty;
Reverse us, and we indicate a county--
is solved by X S--S X.
109
The cryptogram--
~FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTN
LLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!~
is solved by inserting the letter “I” throughout, when this rhyming couplet is formed--
If thin milk brings illicit tin,
I’ll skim it, mix it, till it’s thin!
110
The buried proverb in--
Yet I see them all! on golden wings that fly
Old memories steal anew;
With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cry
They return in ghostly hue!
is _’Tis a long lane that has no turning_.
111
Lewis Carroll’s doublet, which changes ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing the name of another tree as one of them, is solved thus by him--
ELM, ELL, ALL, AIL, AIR, FIR, FAR, OAR, OAK.
A shorter solution is by these six links--_Ely_, _sly_, _say_, _bay_, _bat_, _oat_; and one of these (_bay_) is also a tree, as was _fir_, so that the conditions given are fulfilled.
112
My dear Mr Bird,
We are giving a ball;
First second we third,
Pray give us your all.
is solved by _attendance_.
Second, I did my first and last,
Till I became my whole,
And told the tale of my repast,
A sad and greedy soul.
is solved by _satiate_.
113
The charade--
My whole, industrious, wends his way
His daily task to meet;
Behead, transpose a, lo! a sound
Of music soft and sweet;
Behead again, I make my way
With swiftness past belief;
Again, and where the fields are gay
My bounty brings relief.
is solved by _Artisan_, _strain_, _train_, _rain_.
114
The lines by an old Oxbridge don--
“’Tis an absurdity to say
Women should try for a B.A.
To College honours forward looking;
They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”
can be happily met by this retort in the same words, recast by a Girton girl--
“Women should try for a B.A.,
To College honours forward looking;
’Tis an absurdity to say
They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”
115
The enigma--
Eight letters (start with b)
Three syllables contain;
Take one away, and see
Four syllables remain!
is solved by _Beautify_, _Beatify_.
116
The beasts buried in the lines--
Ireland’s lot heals slowly. Troubles came long ago--at times in
battalions--to attack and harass her. Ambitious democrats now
countermine famous enthusiasts nearly akin to heroes. Anarchy enables
cowards to sow hot terror and all amazement, are--
eland, sloth, camel, goat, bat, lion, stoat, ass, ram, fat, ermine,
mouse, yak, roe, hyena, cow, sow, otter and llama.
117
This is the palindrome verse that reads and rhymes from either end--
Dies slowly fading day, winds mournful sigh,
Brightly stars are waking;
Flies owlet hooting, holding revel high,
Nightly silence breaking.
118
The anagram recast from “The Observatory at Greenwich in England” is completed thus--
_On landing here begin to watch every star._
119
The enigma--
No man at all am I,
And, if you turn me round,
To hear my warning cry
Not any men are found.
is solved by _Nemo_, _omen_, _o men_.
120
The question--
How can our sailors fare the best
When times are harder?
How do they greet with merry jest
An empty larder?
is solved thus--
FOWL IS FARE.
Wind that blows foul and chops about,
With lighter puffs,
And finds the thirsty sailor stout,
Brings food enough!
121
The enigma--
I lose my head when I am here,
Transpose me I am three;
Look in a book, you find me there,
And with me her and he--
is solved by _There_.
122
Jack did _declaim_ that he could square
The circle to a _decimal_;
His friends _claimed_ that a brain so rare
Required attention _medical_.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
123
A Mr Harwood had two daughters by his first wife, the elder of these was married to John Coshick. This Coshick had a daughter by his first wife, whom old Harwood married. Thus Harwood’s daughter could say--
My father is my son,
And I’m my mother’s mother;
My daughter and sister are one,
I’m grandam to my brother!
124
The charade--
Catch my first with nimble wit,
Add a simple word;
Then my whole may help a bit
Opportunely heard.
is solved by _Catchword_.
125
The paradox--
My mate and I from home did start,
Some little space we were apart.
When we had run a mile or more
We kept our distance, as before;
Shade of Colenso! could this be,
When twice as fast as I ran he?
is solved by the fact that the lines apply to the large and small wheels of a bicycle.
126
The enigma from Lewis Carroll’s Papers--
A monument all men agree
Am I in all sincerity,
Half cat, half hindrance made.
If head and tail removed should be,
Then most of all you strengthen me.
Replace my head, the stand you see
On which my tail is laid.
is solved by _Tablet_.
127
The charade--
I’m known to the poorest and worst,
And my worth by a child may be reckoned;
The least thing in nature is double my first,
And my whole is just half of my second.
is solved by _Halfpenny_.
128
My first without its head and tail
Is one and undivided;
My second shows its teeth, is frail,
And as a rule one-sided.
The two to hold my first avail,
By busy toil provided.
is solved by _Honeycomb_.
129
The towns buried in the sentences--
His sister played the piano while we sang.
I saw Nell out here last evening.
The general rode a large black mare.
I have ordered a cab at half-past one.
Meet me in the lane at half-past nine.
are _Lewes_, _Louth_, _Deal_, _Bath_ and _Neath_.
130
The anagram on “The leaning tower of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy,” is completed thus--
A funny spot in a sweet city; _I o’erhang it all_.
131
When they found that catacomb
Near the _Capitol_ at Rome
’Twas the _topical_ discussion of the season;
But the _optical_ effect
Of the skeletons select
Deprived the poor Professor of his reason!
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
132
The charade--
My first is pretence,
My second a dandy;
When fogs are most dense
My whole will be handy.
is solved by _Flambeau_.
133
If we adopt the old spelling of the final word, we can prove by anagram that Bacon had no hand at anyrate in Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothinge,” for the same letters exactly spell “_Bacon? O, naught due to him!_”
134
Use all your wits to guess my all,
Can any guess it right?
Transposed, and never seen at all,
It still is felt in sight.
Behead, transpose, then let it be,
And you at last a clue may see.
is solved by _Left_, _felt_, _let_.
135
“Insanitary” and “sanitary reform” are very happily recast by anagram thus--_In nasty air; Former air nasty_.
136
The charade--
Let my second cut my first
When I come to table;
Though I cannot quench your thirst
Eat me--you are able.
is solved by _Cutlet_.
137
These are the completed lines--
What mars a land so sadly as a war?
What days as dark as days that wars alarm?
Alas! ask any, ask at hand, afar,
All shall call war a harass and a harm.
Why call, as ballads talk, that ghastly art
All gallant acts--a grand and manly part?
It will be seen that “a” was the only missing letter.
138
The charade--
To me when whole, for I am sweet,
The moon fresh brightness brings;
Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meet
To sharpen other things.
Behead me twice, and I have led
Soldiers to face the foe;
Headless and tailless, one remains
Though all the rest may go.
is solved by Honey (honey-moon; hone; Ney; one).
139
The enigma--
We start when the ninth hour is past,
Then there’s an end of you.
A vengeful goddess shows at last
What Antifat will do.
is solved by _Attenuate_:--at ten, u, Ate, goddess of Revenge.
140
The charade--
When on charades intent I take my pen,
To seek some hidden goal,
Over my first my second comes, and then
Quite overcomes my whole.
is solved by _Overcomes_.
141
The cryptogram which was sent as a reliable tip before a race in which Petronel was to run--
Tell me, Ben, who tore it.
Seek a plant for it, see Bob.
is deciphered thus--
Take every third letter, and you arrive at Lenortepnoteb. Read this
backwards, and you have the tip, “Bet on Petronel!”
142
The enigma--
I have no form, I have no friend,
From me all come, in me all end.
And it is strange but very true
That I am here and nowhere too--
is solved by _Nothing_.
143
The broken sentence--
A sed end ought eat ease ain.
is thus filled in to describe a curse and to proclaim its cure--
A cursed fiend brought death, disease and pain;
A blessed friend brought breath and ease again.
144
The charade--
My first is a cover,
My second a city;
The whole you discover
With this if you’re witty.
is solved by _Capacity_.
145
The four rivers buried in the sentence--
The deaf and dumb girl began gesticulating with a message, and her
delivery was ever neat, with graceful pose in every attitude.
are _Ganges_, _Thames_, _Severn_ and _Seine_.
146
If the “shingle” on the Brighton beach could speak, it might boast by anagram, “I am _English_!”
147
The enigma--
She is as deaf as any post,
Incurable I fear;
She is my guest, I am her host,
How can I make her hear?
is solved by adding an a to _her_, which becomes _hear_.
148
The missing words in the “Plaint of the Rejected” are--_The R.A._, _hater_, _heart_, _earth_, _Herat_.
149
The man who could attach a phonetic meaning to the words “Beta in Greek means letter B,” could in another fashion invite others to beat his wife by merely calling them and saying, “_Hither!_” (hit her).
150
The rebus--
storm? an umbrella with all
a th me who alls mud
is solved thus--Who follows me under an umbrella, with overalls all over mud, after a thunderstorm?
151
This is the completed palindrome:--
Nor I nor Emma had level’d a hammer on iron.
It reads alike from either end.
152
The tutor came to the conclusion that there is nothing in Ecclesiastical Law to prevent the Pope from burying the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the undergraduate who had proposed the question demurred to this reply; pressed for his reason he said, as his face broke into a smile, “He cannot do so, because _the Archbishop is not dead_!”
153
The proverb buried in the sentence, “While there are very many as kind as this, they know no task unkind,” is, “_Let every man skin his own skunk_.”
154
Kate gathers me where children three,
Tom, Jane, and Mary, chatter;
He leads the way and then we see
The other two come at her!
is solved by _Heather_ (he, at her).
155
The quotation from Shakespeare buried in--
Strange weather! What could equal it? Yesterday sunshine and soft
breezes, to-day a summer cyclone raging noisily; then other changes,
as floods of fiercest rain eddy beneath the blast.
is “The quality of mercy is not strained.”
156
The beetroot palindrome, which reads alike from either end is--
RED ROOT PUT UP TO ORDER
157
My _first_ we all do when we fail;
My _next_ is heard in rain or hail;
My _fourth_ a sheep of gender male;
My _third_ is one without its tail;
My _whole_ for foreign countries sail.
is solved by _Missionaries_.
158
The words written on the walls of a Western college gained their ambiguous sense from the three final words, printed in italics--“Young women should set a good example, for young men _will follow them_!”
159
The enigma--
I’m but a little letter, still
I have my duties to fulfil;
If off you take
My tail, and make
An alteration in my lot,
Though I seem shorter I am not.
is solved by _Note_.
160
This is the full text--
Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir,
Why is it that the devil,
In spite of all his naughty ways
Can never be uncivil?”
Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plain
To any mind that’s bright;
Because the _imp o’ darkness_, sir,
Cannot be _imp o’ light_!”
161
Beneath the _limes_ which shade the lawn
Her bicycle she mounted;
And with a _smile_, ere she had gone
An hour, ten _miles_ she counted.
It rained, it snowed, but nought could stop her,
Till in the _slime_, she came a cropper!
The words in italics have the same letters.
162
The date of the new organ given by the English is concealed in the lines of this inscription above its keyboard at Ober Ammergau--
QVI CHRISTI LAVDES CANTANT
SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE
IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT.
If the Roman numerals that occur in the words are added together, they amount to 1894, the date of its completion.
163
A woman’s name
Of foreign fame,
Hers was a noble mind.
Now, sir, transpose,
And I suppose
No smaller thing you’ll find.
is solved by _Stael_, _least_.
164
The French charade--
Pour avoir mon _premier_
Femme qui cache mon _dernier_
Manque souvent mon _entier_.
is solved by _Mari-age_.
165
The charade--
Let go! let go! you naughty first,
Or you will make my second;
A stream of words will then outburst,
Swift as my whole is reckoned.
is solved by _Current_.
166
My first is first when cruisers charge in line,
And oft in frosty skies is seen to shine.
Don’t spare my second if you would suggest
To an impulsive child the way that’s best.
My sporting whole, though now neglected grown,
Travelled by tube before the tube was known.
is solved by _Ramrod_.
167
The enigma--
First of men we lead a measure,
Last we end the same.
Starting merrily, our pleasure
Is to finish lame.
is solved by the letters _me_.
168
When Tom declared that he could give his sister quite a simple sentence of seven common English words of one syllable, which she could not produce on her typewriter, he had in his mind, “We can spell (to, too, two) in three ways,” which cannot, of course, be expressed in seven written words.
169
The French charade--
Mon premier est un tyran, mon second un horreur,
Mon tout est le diable lui-même.
Mais si mon premier est bon, mon second ne fait rien,
Et mon tout est le bonheur suprême.
is solved by _Mariage_.
170
Sydney Smith’s conclusion as to the value and satisfaction of a City dinner was completed thus:--“I cannot wholly value a dinner by the _test you do_!” (Turtle, in Latin, _testudo_).
171
DEAN SWIFT’S ENIGMA--
In youth exalted high in air,
Or bathing in the streamlet fair,
Nature to form me took delight
And clothed my body all in white;
My person tall and slender waist
On either side with fringes graced;
Till me that tyrant Man espied,
And dragg’d me from my mother’s side.
No wonder that I look so thin,
The monster stripp’d me to the skin;
My body flay’d, my hair he cropp’d,
And head and foot both off he lopp’d;
Pick’d all the marrow from my bone.
And then, with heart more hard than stone,
To vex me more, he took a freak
To slit my tongue, and make me speak.
But that which wonderful appears,
I speak to eyes and not to ears.
All languages I now command
Yet not a word I understand.
is solved by _A Goose-quill_.
172
The answer to the riddle propounded by the possessor of a new KEEN KUT razor to his friend whose chin was disfigured by scars, “What is the difference between my razor and yours?” is--“Mine cuts thoroughly; yours also cuts, tho’ roughly!”
173
The decapitated words are in italics--
The ship rode in an _eastern_ bay,
Asleep _astern_ the master lay,
A _stern_ and rugged man was he,
And, like a _tern_, at home at sea.
Like swooping _ern_ he caught his prey
Whene’er an _R.N_. came his way;
But while due _N_. the needle kept
He in his cabin lay and slept.
The ern, or erne, is the sea-eagle.
174
When the tempest roars the loudest
Oft my first a shelter proves.
Say what fair one, though the proudest,
Spurns my next from one she loves?
When the storms of life are past
Earth provides my whole at last.
is solved by _Covering_.
175
One syllable, I help to turn the scale
Of party strife or faction;
Recast me, and two syllables avail
To stop all further action.
is solved by _vote_, _veto_.
176
The lines to an owl are filled in thus--
Oh, on old towers, thou gloomy owl,
Thou lovest to hoot, thou lovest to howl.
Or on old oaks your hollow tone
So lost, so solemn, sounds alone,
So mournful no one loves to go
Or of your hooting howls to know.
The vowel “o” occurs forty-six times in the six lines.
177
In the Army anagram--
I’m free to-day, the _old sire_ said,
_O no cell_ now have I to dread;
For this one happy day to me
_Are glen_ and hill and forest free,
I, if I will, can ride, or fish,
_A pit can_ enter, if I wish,
In search of chalk or sand.
In peace alone I now can dine,
And sing to Anna’s _lute at nine_,
Nor fear a reprimand.
the words in italics spell also _soldier_, _colonel_, _general_, _captain_, and _lieutenant_.
178
My first transposed becomes a name
Which may quite mean be reckoned,
Two syllables combine the same,
With one or two for second.
My whole when fields are fresh and green,
And softly blows the wind,
Where the first signs of spring are seen
Within the woods we find.
is solved by _Anemone_, the _wind_ flower (name, mean, anem, one, o, ne).
179
The anagram enigma--
Silent long is the wood-bird’s song,
Bare is the woodland bough;
For waving trees in wintry breeze
Have “no buds now.”
is solved by _snowbound_, which contains exactly the same letters as “no buds now.”
180
The question of time--
A farmer with children sixteen
Killed the fattest young lamb of his flock.
To divide it these children between,
What must be the time by the clock?
is solved by _a quarter to four_.
181
The Donkey drive--
To the far end of any train
Hitch on a pair of neddies;
Then you will hear, like steps of Cain,
The threat that in their tread is.
is solved by _Ass-ass-in_.
182
The “Eating by Alphabet” enigma--
Take all the alphabet, and cast
Its final letter out;
Then set the first where was the last,
And this you bring about:
Without a cook, without a fire,
A dainty dish which men desire.
is solved by A past Y (a pasty).
183
The charade--
My second with my first we greet;
My whole in earlier days
Gave understanding to the feet
That moved in tragic plays.
is solved by _Buskin_.
184
The sentence--
Behest on thy lips, Society;
forms an Anagram of the proverb
“Honesty is the best policy.”
185
This sentence, fashioned by eight schoolboys as anagrams on their Christian names, arranged in order--
“I thy Tom am sober and lie or live in dew, but her brain sinned”--
reveals, when deciphered, the names Timothy, Ambrose, Daniel, Oliver, Edwin, Hubert, Brian and Dennis.
186
The enigma--
In any coward’s company you find
That I have place.
Cut off my head, and from your mind
All wrong erase.
is solved by _Fright_.
187
The double acrostic--
From “Punch,” 1875.
My first, elect among the few,
Chooses my second to expose his view.
1. Of various colours, changed at will,
I sit or stand for good or ill.
2. I rule alone from noon till night,
And when I am not am is right.
is solved
M. P.
P. M.
188
A man in a rage should go to a “shooting gallery,” because by its Anagram it is _largely soothing_.
189
The beatitude--
Let her be or beat her,
Give her little ease;
Then in safety seat her
All among the bees,
is solved by _A Queen Bee_. The _Bee_ is made up of the _letter b_ (let her be), in Greek called Beta (beat her), and two little _e_’s (ease).
190
The puzzle-lines--
“We,” cried my first and second,
“Are not quite satisfied.”
“The story may be reckoned
Imperfect,” fourth replied.
Said third, “The fact indeed I tell,”
And so at last all ended well.
are cleared up by _Satisfactory_.
191
The English proverb which is concealed under its anagram--
“I dare not admit faint women,”
is _Time and tide wait for no man_.
192
The charade--
My first and second are as best they should be,
My third in Latin mouth is what it would be,
My whole would soon be ashes if it could be.
is solved by _Asbestos_ (_os_ is Latin for _mouth_).
193
Since Spooks, a _subtle_ man is he,
_Sublet_ this haunted house to me,
In _bluest_ funk I _bustle_ round,
And fear a ghost in every sound.
The four words in italics have the same letters.
194
That which is found in the centre of Australia and of America, and in no other place, is the letter “r” (no othe_r_ place).
195
Grandfather’s riddle, “Do you know why is the fourth of July?” is solved by the fact that the fourth letter of that word is y!
196
My _first_ is never far away,
My _next_ in Latin found;
My _third_ may rage by night or day;
_All_ make melodious sound.
is solved by _Nightingale_.
197
Through the _forest_ trees
Softly coo the doves;
Let a _softer_ breeze
_Foster_ youthful loves!
The words in italics have the same letters.
198
The enigma--
At starting half your income take,
Then for my second write;
And let your table help to make
The total cosy quite.
is solved by _Comfortable_.
199
The charade--
My whole is a circle complete,
Beheaded I fall to your feet.
Behead me again and I fry,
Or am baked in a savoury pie.
is solved by _Wheel_, _heel_, _eel_.
200
The anagram sentences are recast thus into single words--
See a pug dog.
_Pedagogues._
Stay, O morn.
_Astronomy._
Fat reward.
_Afterward._
Red paper.
_Prepared._
Set on a dish.
_Astonished._
201
The enigma--
If my whole by my second and first you divide,
One more than ten thousand it gives.
In the land of my birth I have dwindled and died,
In museums my memory lives.
is solved by _Do-do_.
202
The paradox--
Though never present, I appear,
Of perfect form a token;
And all that centres round my ear
Is heard, though never spoken.
is solved by the word _heard_.
203
The enigma--
Behead me twice, and it shall be
That I my perfect self regain;
Restore both heads, and you shall see
That most imperfect I remain.
is solved by _Incomplete_.
204
Grant lady, grant your _slave_ his whim,
And give the coming _valse_ to him,
For this will _salve_ his jealous heart,
Stricken so sore by Cupid’s dart.
If not, he _laves_ his hands of you,
To seek fresh _vales_ and pastures new.
The words in italics have the same letters.
205
“Yes, yes, I know,” said Jack to Jill,
“That thirty-two is freezing point:
And I can tell you, if you will,
Exactly what is squeezing-point!”
is solved by _Two in the shade!_
206
The puzzle--
To fifty add a third of one,
A third to five attach;
You have the means, when this is done,
To kindle any match.
is solved by _Love_.
207
The missing words are in italics--
The untrained _speculator_ in the City
Is robbed by _peculators_ without pity.
208
Read backwards it becomes--
Prosperity and peace; no barns empty; bills long paid; not high rents;
berries bright; no birds hungry; merry Christmas comes.
209
The anagram plants concealed in the sentence--O rise love it lad never let this lamb chase trains, are: Osier, violet, lavender, thistle, balm, china asters.
210
The enigma--
My first is quite a sin by name,
My third its simple cure;
My second puts an end to fame,
My whole of ease is sure.
is solved by _Sinecure_.
211
The paradox--
Cut off my head, it is unshaken,
Cut off my tail, you turn it round,
But if both head and tail are taken,
Unconquered still I hold my ground.
is solved by TIT.
212
The charade--
Why should we quarrel, first and third,
With nought between us but a word?
Let third leave second unessayed
To heal the breach these letters made.
If your solution be writ fair
You find my whole disjointed there.
is solved by I.O.U.
213
When Funniboy wrote from Naples to his friend, “Next week I am going ‘to plant onions, etc.,’” it was an intimation by anagram that he was bound for Constantinople.
214
In haunted house to sleep I tried,
My dread _first_ was my chum.
“With _second_ of my _first_,” I cried,
“My _whole_ I should become.”
is solved by _Fearless_.
215
The enigma--
My first is possessive and second:
My second possessive and first.
Such banks most attractive are reckoned
By those for rich treasure athirst.
is solved by _Thymy_ (_thy_, _my_).
216
This is the completed palindrome--
REPEL EVIL AS A LIVE LEPER,
which reads alike from either end.
217
When Tom Pickles’s father tried with a lusty puff to blow the small cork into the bottle, the sudden compression of the air inside, followed by its expansion, drove the cork in an unexpected direction, so that it flew out and struck him sharply on the mouth.
218
Acorns are as strong as oaken posts when they _propagate_ (prop-a-gate).
219
The completed palindrome runs thus--
“Put it up but not on tub, put it up but not on tub, put it up,” which
reads alike from either end.
220
The _Kates_ of Shakespeare and of song
Have fair and dainty features;
But she I _stake_ my hopes upon
Excels those lovely creatures.
From _Keats_ she _takes_ her name so dear,
She lives on _steaks_ and honey:
She cannot _skate_, but she can steer,
And Madeline has money.
The words in italics have the same letters.
221
The two long words used recently by a politician which can be recast by anagram to form the sentence, “Axiomatic intelligence, or dust” are--
TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDES.
222
My first your bosom friend, or man or maid,
Whom you can trust, secure and unafraid.
My second, sounded double, tells of fate,
Or sounded single puts an end to hate.
My whole a hall’s arched roof, or soft or hard,
That lies beyond the gate with ivory barr’d.
is solved by _Palate_ (Até, goddess of fate).
223
The sentence “Woman without her man would be helpless” takes on a distinct meaning if the words “without her” are read together, and a comma is placed after “woman.” Thus--“Woman, _without her_ man would be helpless.”
224
The short sentences are recast into single words thus--
A moment’s cure.
_Commensurate._
Cod is nice.
_Coincides._
The old rocks.
_Stockholder._
It lures a cat.
_Articulates._
225
The enigma--
Without my head I circulate
With speed and inclination.
Without my bait, at anyrate,
I still have inclination.
Transpose three letters, in unbroken state
I then receive the ashes of the great.
is solved by _Hearth_, _earth_, _heart_ (transpose _eat_ to _ate_).
226
Here is a metrical account of the anagram which, with some exaggeration, proclaims that Sims Reeves was often prevented from singing by his delicate throat--
The audience in wrapt impatience sits;
Comes an excuse, and disappointment hisses,
Strange that _Sims Reeves_, whose singing ever _hits_,
By a mere shift of letters _ever misses_!
227
Consuming lust for _lucre_, now so rife,
Like _cruel_ _ulcer_ mars both love and life.
The words in italics have the same letters.
228
This is the completed palindrome--
I maniac lived, a devil Cain am I.
229
The lines--
And as trim bees rise or go,
A long aim I’d say, a libel O!
contain in anagram and in proper order the fruits _tamarinds_, _gooseberries_, and the flowers _magnolia_, _daisy_, _lobelia_.
230
These are the anagrams--
Now one old fort
_Tower of London_.
Rabid owl
_Wild Boar_.
231
Alas, for that forgotten day
When chivalry was nourish’d,
When none but friars learn’d to pray,
And beef and beauty flourish’d;
And fraud in kings was held accursed,
And falsehood sin was reckon’d,
And mighty chargers bore my _first_,
And fat monks wore my _second_!
Ah, then I carried sword and shield
And casque with flaunting feather,
And earn’d my spurs in battle-field,
In winter and rough weather;
And polish’d many a sonnet up
To ladies’ eyes and tresses;
And learn’d to drain my father’s cup,
And loose my falcon’s jesses!
But dim is now my grandeur’s gleam,
The mongrel mob grows prouder;
And everything is done by steam,
And men are kill’d by powder;
And now I feel my swift decay,
And give unheeded orders;
And rot in paltry state away
With sheriffs and recorders.
is solved by _Knighthood_.
232
My _first_ you oft savagely pierce through and through;
My _next_ harbours nonsense, and wisdom, and dust;
But, oh! what disaster might chance to accrue,
Should my _whole_, from my _second_, step into my _first_!
is solved by _Earwig_.
233
My whole describes the action of a gale,
Decapitation makes an organ play.
Behead again, it sounds o’er hill and vale;
Again, it tells of what we do not pay.
Take nothing off, it is an eagle’s sail.
Again behead, and half a string denote;
Again, and lo! a horse’s head and tail;
And last of all on music’s notes I float.
is solved by _A’blowing_ (n-a-g).
234
The proverb buried in the sentence--
Society--how her enthusiasts worship at her Juggernaut car. Cases
exist here, proving how illogical are these eagle-sighted,
place-hunting beings, scoffing at hereditary position, yet striving to
get her smile.
is “Where the carcase is there will the eagles be gathered together.”
235
The answer by anagram to--What should we put on a bird’s tail to catch it without a _steel-trap_? is _Saltpetre_.
236
The charade--
Across my _first_, with flash and roar,
The stately vessel glides alone.
And mournful on the crowded shore
There stands an aged crone,
Watching my _second’s_ parting smile,
As he bids farewell to his native isle.
My _whole_ comes back to other eyes,
With beauteous change of fruit and flowers,
But dim to her are those bright skies,
And sad those joyous hours;
For, alas! my _first_ is dark and deep,
And my _second_ cannot hear her weep.
is solved by _Season_.
237
The sequel to the Arab and his ass runs thus--
When morning dawned, and the tide was out,
The pair crossed over ’neath Allah’s _protection_,
And the Arab was happy beyond a doubt,
For he had the best donkey in all that _section_.
You are wrong! They were drowned in crossing over,
Though the donkey was bravest of all his _race_;
He luxuriates now in perpetual clover,
And his master has gone to the prophet’s _embrace_.
238
A _siren_, _risen_ on _Erin’s_ strands,
Caught Pat’s heart in her meshes;
He left the _reins_ in Cupid’s hands,
And watched her _rinse_ her tresses;
Tresses of _resin_ coloured gold,
Veiling, like any frock,
A tail which, as it did unfold,
Gave to poor Pat a shock.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
239
The answer by anagram to “Where can you be ‘in a stone-pine garden’?” is _Pontresina, Engadine_.
240
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters--
No _wider_ sympathy was ever shown
Than when _weird_ news, from Kingston _wired_, was known.
241
According to its anagram, the bodily discomfort which follows an _ague-fit_ is _fatigue_.
242
This is the adjustment of the tangled square--
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Pictured Puzzles and Word PlayChapter D: U 2 9 (2)
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